A mother and son were lucky to escape serious injury after their car collided with a tree on the Murchison Highway yesterday.

The pair were on their way to Cradle Mountain when the 20 plus metre tree fell and landed across the highway. The white Mitsubishi wagon they were driving was unable to avoid crashing into it.

The crash occurred about 500 metres south from the Belvoir Road junction.

The driver of the car, a 41-year-old man from Hobart and his 71-year-old mother from Queensland were assessed at the scene by Ambulance Tasmania and were luckily uninjured.

“Had the tree fallen a few seconds later, this crash would have undoubtedly resulted in serious injuries or worse,” said Senior Constable Sven Mason of Western Crash Investigation Services.

The highway was closed for a considerable time with traffic disruptions.

” I’d like to thank members of the public for their assistance at the scene,” he said

“The weather at the time was overcast with drizzle, little wind and there was no early indication that this tree was likely to fall. This is a timely reminder for drivers to always be alert when driving, it is very fortunate that no one received any serious injuries in the crash.”